ABSTRACT
Refugees usually become entangled in a web of reception centres and civic integration requirements upon arrival, hampering their belonging to the city and directing them to specific spaces. This chapter explores how recently arrived refugee youth in Amsterdam navigate the city on their own terms, building connections beyond administrative borders. It investigates how refugee youth use public and semi-public spaces as an important counter narrative to formal and institutional procedures. Moreover, a focus on the night and urban nightscapes reveals the meaning of encounters, leisure time, conviviality and urban dynamics that take place in the city at night, offering a hopeful perspective that helps to explore new ways to live together in an increasingly diverse world.
